EP0238343A2 - Solid state image pick-up device - Google Patents
Solid state image pick-up device Download PDFInfo
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- EP0238343A2 EP0238343A2 EP87302385A EP87302385A EP0238343A2 EP 0238343 A2 EP0238343 A2 EP 0238343A2 EP 87302385 A EP87302385 A EP 87302385A EP 87302385 A EP87302385 A EP 87302385A EP 0238343 A2 EP0238343 A2 EP 0238343A2
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- photo
- solid state
- sensing
- image pick
- state image
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
- H01L27/14—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L27/00—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate
- H01L27/14—Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate including semiconductor components sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation
- H01L27/144—Devices controlled by radiation
- H01L27/146—Imager structures
- H01L27/148—Charge coupled imagers
- H01L27/14887—Blooming suppression
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
- H04N25/60—Noise processing, e.g. detecting, correcting, reducing or removing noise
- H04N25/62—Detection or reduction of noise due to excess charges produced by the exposure, e.g. smear, blooming, ghost image, crosstalk or leakage between pixels
- H04N25/625—Detection or reduction of noise due to excess charges produced by the exposure, e.g. smear, blooming, ghost image, crosstalk or leakage between pixels for the control of smear
Definitions
- the present invention relates generally to a solid-state image pick-up device utilizing a charge coupled device (CCD). More specifically, the invention relates to a solid state image pick-up device which can render more uniform the picture quality at each pixel.
- CCD charge coupled device
- Solid state image sensors comprising a charge transfer device such as a charge coupled device (hereinafter referred to as CCD) are classified broadly into the frame transfer type and the interline transfer type.
- CCD charge coupled device
- Such solid state image sensors comprising a CCD have been given attention as devices able to realize a compact image pick up apparatus, namely, a television camera in miniaturized size operative with low power consumption and with high reliability.
- previously proposed solid state image sensors comprising the CCD have encountered with several problems as for the undesirable phenomena called ''blooming'' and ''smear''.
- such as sensing device comprises a sensing and vertical transfer portion including a plurality of photo-sensing areas provided to make horizontal rows and vertical rows, vertical charge transfer portions provided along each of the vertical rows of the photo-sensing areas and transfer gate areas provided between each of the photo-sensing areas the corresponding one of the vertical charge transfer portions, a horizontal charge transfer portion coupled with the vertical charge transfer portion and an output portion coupled with the horizontal charge transfer portion.
- the sensing and vertical transfer portions, horizontal charge transfer portions and output portions are formed on a common semiconductor substrate.
- the photo-sensing area is provided for producing a signal charge in response to the light received thereby and storing the signal charge therein.
- the transfer gate area is provided for transferring the signal charge stored in the photo-sensing area to the vertical charge transfer portion at each period corresponding to a vertical blanking period.
- the vertical charge transfer portion is provided for transferring the signal charge transferred from the photo-sensing area to the horizontal charge transfer portion in order at every period corresponding to a horizontal blanking period.
- the horizontal charge transfer portion is provided for transferring the signal charge transferred from the vertical charge transfer portion at each one of the periods corresponding the horizontal blanking periods to the output portion during a period corresponding to a horizontal video period. Further, the output portion is provided for taking out an image pickup signal output in response to the signal charge transferred from the horizontal charge transfer portion.
- interline transfer CCD image sensors In solid state image sensors of the interline transfer type using the CCD (hereinafter referred to as interline transfer CCD image sensors) previously proposed, when the light received by the photo-sensing area reaches to the inside of the semiconductor substrate placed under the photo-sensing area through the latter and a charge is produced thereby at the inside of the semiconductor substrate, such a charge partially flows into the vertical charge transfer portion undesirably without becoming the signal charge and is undesirably transferred by means of the charge transfer operation of the vertical charge transfer portion.
- This undesirably transferred charge becomes a noise component in the image pick-up signal output derived from the sensor which causes an eyesore, namely a white line on a picture obtained on an image display apparatus such as a picture tube in response to the image pick-up signal output.
- the effect of phenomenon which causes the white line eyesore on the picture is called "smear" and is one of the unsolved problems encountered with the previously proposed interline transfer CCD image sensors.
- Smear on the reproduced picture may also occur due to excessive carrier undesirably overflowing to other photo-sensing areas, when high intensity light is irradiated on the photo-sensing area to generate higher charge than the handling charge of the photo-sensing areas.
- a so-called "overflow drain” is preferably provided in the image pick-up device.
- the diffusion channel stop region is formed surrounding the sensing and vertical transfer section, in which the photo-sensing areas are arranged in a form of matrix to constitute a photosensitive array.
- the other component, e.g. holes, of the carrier is then transferred to the channel stop region to be drained.
- differences of carrier drain characteristics are caused.
- These differences in carrier drain characteristics with respect to each photo-sensing area result in differences in handling charge at individual photo-sensing areas. Since the brightness of the photo-sensing area is determined depending upon the handling charge thereof, due to the diferences in the handling charge at different positions of the photo-sensing areas, the brightnesses of respective pixels on the reproduced image differ. This degrades the quality of the picture reproduced.
- a solid state image pick-up device includes means for cancelling differences of impedance between photo-sensing areas in a photo-sensitive array.
- the impedance difference cancelling means cancels or makes the difference of impedance at every photo-sensing area ignorable to render uniform the handling charge in respective photo-sensing areas.
- the impedance difference cancelling means may provide a resistance high enough to enable the impedance difference between respective photo-sensing areas to be ignored.
- a solid state image pick-up device comprising: a photo sensing means including a plurality of photo-sensing elements, each of which photo-sensing elements is designed for receiving light and producing a charge signal corresponding to the amount of the light; charge transferring means for receiving said charge signal from said photo sensing means and transferring said charge signal to an output section; and means for draining carrier generated in each of said photo-sensing elements of said photo sensing means and transferring means; characterised by means for providing a resistance for said draining means, which resistance is high enough, in relation to a potential difference occurring in use between said photo-sensing elements, to cancel said potential difference.
- the image pick-up device generally comprises a semiconductor substrate l0, a sensing and vertical transfer section 20 and a horizontal charge transfer section 30.
- the semiconductor substrate 10 is constituted of a base substrate 12, a first region 14 and a second region 16 (Fig. 2).
- the base substrate 12 is formed of N-type semiconductor. More practically, the base substrate 12 is N-type silicon substrate.
- the first region 14 is formed by P-type layer which is deposited on the N-type silicon substrate.
- the second layer is formed by P ⁇ -type or N ⁇ -type layer and deposited on the first region 14.
- the first and second regions are deposited on the base substrate 12 by epitaxial growth.
- the surface of the second region 16 serves as a primary surface 18 of the semiconductor substrate 10 by selective diffusion or ion implantation.
- the sensing and vertical transfer section 20 includes a plurality of photo-sensing areas 22 and vertical shift registers 24.
- Each of the photo-sensing area 22 serves as a picture element or pixel for receiving the light to produce and store a signal charge therein.
- a given number of photo-sensing areas 22 are arranged in spaced apart relationship to each other and aligned along the associated vertical shift register 24.
- the vertical shift register 24 receives signal charge from the associated photo-sensing areas and vertically transfers the signal charge at every period corresponding to the horizontal blanking period.
- Each of the shift registers 24 and the associated photo-sensing areas 22 constitute a vertical transfer portion 26.
- the vertical shift registers 24 are associated with a horizontal shift register 32 in the horizontal charge transfer section 30 to output the signal charge therethrough to an output section 34.
- the low impurity concentration region 46 of the outer channel stop region 42 has the identical composition to that of the inner channel stop region 40 and preferable formed simultaneously to formation of the inner channel stop region.
- the high impurity concentration region 48 has higher impurity concentration than that in the inner channel stop region.
- the high impurity concentration region 48 is formed by dopping impurity, such as boron B, in the order of 1014 atoms/cm2.
- the high impurity concentration region 48 is formed in advance of formation of the inner channel stop region 40 and the low impurity concentration region 46.
- the high impurity concentration region 48 is formed with a plurality of contacting points 50 through which it contact with A1 wiring 52. These contacting points 50 have applied to them a potential at the ground level or a predetermined level, through the wiring 52. Therefore, the contact points 50 serves as a terminal section.
- a resistor region 54 is formed between the inner channel stop region 40 at the low impurity concentration region 46 of the outer channel stop region 42. Namely, the resistor region 54 is formed in a space defined by the inner channel stop region 40, the low impurity concentration region 46 and the bridging section 44. In the preferred construction, the resistor region 54 is formed of a meshed structure. By forming the resistor region 54 in the meshed structure, influence of damaging of part of the resistor region 54 can be eliminated or reduced.
- the base substrate 12 is formed on N-type semiconductor substrate.
- the first region 14 is formed into P+-type region by dopping P+-type impurity and the second region 16 is formed into N ⁇ -type region by dopping N ⁇ -type impurity.
- Each photo-sensing area 22 is formed in the second region 16 by dopping N+-type impurity by selective diffusion or ion implantation, in a predetermined area and through a given depth in conjunction with the primary surface 18 of the semiconductor substrate 10.
- the upper surface of each photo-sensing area 22 is covered by a mutually separate, independent surface region 26.
- the surface regions 26 are electrically conductive.
- each of the surface regions 26 are formed by dopping P+-type impurity by way of selective diffusion or ion implantation, in a predetermined area and substantially thin given depth.
- the surface regions 26 are exposed to the primary surface 18 of the semiconductor substrate 10. Forming the surface region 26 will successfully eliminate noise to be created by influence of defects in the crystal structure at the surface area of the semiconductor substrate 10.
- the shift register 24 comprises a vertical charge transfer region 28 formed on the primary surface 18 of the semiconductor substrate 10.
- the vertical charge transfer region 28 is also formed by dopping N+-type impurity by way of selective diffusion or ion implantation, similarly to the photo-sensing areas 22.
- the primary surface 18 of the semiconductor substrate 10 is coated by an insulating layer 60.
- the insulating layer may comprise a SiO2 layer.
- a surface electrode 62 is formed over the insulating layer 60.
- the surface electrode 62 is formed of a transparent material for passing the light.
- a given fixed potential is applied to the sensing and vertically transfer section 20 through the surface electrode 62.
- the surface electrode 62 and the transfer electrodes 64 are formed of a silicon monocrystalline dopped impurity to provide low specific contact resistance.
- the channel stop regions 40 and 42 are also formed in the second region 16. As will be seen from Fig. 2, the inner channel stop region 40 and the low impurity concentration region 44 of the outer channel stop region 42 are formed by dopping P ⁇ -type impurity at low rate. The inner channel stop region 40 adjoins with the adjacent photo-sensing areas 22 and the surface regions 26. The high impurity concentration region 46 are formed by dopping P-type impurity at high rate. A P-type region (not shown) is formed through the second region 16 to establish electric communication between the high impurity concentration region 46 and the first region 14 of the semiconductor substrate 10.
- a given positive voltage e.g. 10V is applied to the base substrate 10 to enable the operation of the image pick-up device. Electrons are thus generated in each photo-sensing area 22. The number of electrons generated in the photo-sensing area 22 will be determined corresponding to the amount of the light received.
- the excessive carriers i.e. the overflown electrons are absorbed in the base substrate 12 which serves as an overflow drain.
- the other carrier e.g. the holes, are drained through the inner channel stop region 40.
- the inner channel stop region 40 is connected to the terminal section 50 through high resistance registor region 54, to be connected to the ground or power supply, the potential at every sections of the inner channel stop region 40 becomes substantially uniform.
- the distance between each individual photo-sensing area 22 and the inner channel stop region 40 can not influence to carrier absorbing characteristics of each section of the inner channel region 40. This allows the depth of the potential well in the photo-sensing areas 22 and thus the handling charge in respective photo-sensing area to be rendered uniform.
- Fig. 3 shows another embodiment of the image pick-up device according to the invention.
- a P+-type region 70 is formed between N-type base substrate and N ⁇ -type sueface layer of the N-type semiconductor substrate 72, in substantially similar manner to that illustrated in Fig. 2.
- the P+-type region 70 is formed by exitaxial growth on the N-type base substrate.
- a sensing and vertically transfer section 74 is formed on the aforementioned N ⁇ -type surface layer at the position approximately corresponding to the center of the P+-type region 70.
- the structure of the sensing and vertical transfer section 74 is substantially the same as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and thus does not described in detail in order to avoid redundant recitation.
- a horizontal shift register 76 is also formed within the well region 70 and located adjacent the aforementioned sensing and vertical transfer section 74. Adjacent one end of the horizontal shift register 76, an output section 78 is formed. The output section 78 is located away from the sensing and vertically transfer section 74. A channel stop region 75 is formed along the boundary of the sensing and vertical transfer section 74.
- one component of the carriers e.g. electrons are drained to the N-type base substrate via the P+-type region 70 and the other carrier component, e.g. holes, are drained to the channel stop region 75.
- a first grounding wiring 80 is also formed on the N ⁇ -type surface layer and located in an area corresponding to the P+-type region 70.
- the grounding wiring 80 is arranged on the channel stop region 75 and connected thereto.
- the first grounding wiring 80 substantially surrounds the sensing and vertical transfer section 74 with leaving one edge of the sensing and vertical transfer section 74 open, which edge opposes to the horizontal shift register.
- the grounding wiring 80 is connected to the ground level 82 through a resistor 84.
- a second grounding wiring 86 is further formed on the N ⁇ -type surface layer adjacent the horizontal shift register 76. As shown in Fig. 3, the second grounding wiring 86 extends substantially along the longer edge at the side remote from the sensing and vertical transfer section 74 and along the shorter edge at the side remote from the output section 78. This second grounding wiring 86 is directly connected to the ground level.
- a third grounding wiring 88 is formed on the surface layer of the semiconductor substrate adjacent the output section 78.
- the third grounding wiring substantially surrounding the output section 78 with leaving an edge portion opposite one edge of the horizontal shift register open.
- the third grounding wiring is directly connected to the ground level.
- the P+-type region 70 is formed on the semiconductor substrate with providing portions 90 and 92 where the P+-type layer is not deposited and is the bear N-type substrate.
- the portion 90 is located between ends of the first and second grounding wirings 80 and 86 to define a high resistance region 96.
- the portion 92 is located between the first and third grounding wirings 80 and 88 to define therebetween a high resistance region 98.
- respective first, second and third grounding wirings 80, 86 and 88 are separated to each other by the high resistance regions 96 and 98 defined therebetween. Therefore, the potentials at the second and third grounding wirings 86 and 88 which are directly connected to the ground level, will never influence to the sensing and vertical transfer section 74.
- the shown embodiment provides the high resistance regions 96 and 98 by providing the portions 90 and 92, it would be possible to form such high resistance regions by reducing the depth of the channel stop region to provide high resistance. Also it would be possible to form a substantially high resistance region or insulating region by dopping suitable impurity by way of ion implantation in order to reduce conductivity.
- the resistor 84 can be formed on the semiconductor substrate 72 or can be interposed between the ground level 82 and the grounding wiring 80 as an external accessory.
- the potential at the sensing and vertical transfer section is provided at different level to the ground level. This isolates the sensing and vertical transfer section from the directly grounded grounding wirings.
- the required combined resistance for maintaining the potential at every portions of the sensing and vertical transfer section uniform will be different depending upon the size of the sensing and vertical transfer section, capacity Cox of the oxide layer of gate electrode, level of the pulse to be applied to the electrode, and so forth.
- the combined resistance may be set in a range of 10 to 100 ⁇ .
- Fig. 4 shows a modification of the aforementioned another embodiment of the image pick-up device of Fig. 3.
- the first and second grounding wirings in the former embodiment are integrally formed to constitute a single grounding wiring 102.
- the grounding wiring 102 is connected to the ground level through a resistor 84. This grounding wire 102 is disconnected from the third grounding wiring 88 which is directly connected to the ground level by the portions 92 and 94 defining the high resistance regions 98 and 100.
- the potential at every portion of the sensing and vertical transfer section 74 can be maintained uniform by adjusting combined resistance of the high resistance regions 98 and 100 and the resistor 84. Therefore, handling charge in each photo-sensing areas in the sensing and vertical transfer section 74 become substantially uniform.
Abstract
Description
- The present invention relates generally to a solid-state image pick-up device utilizing a charge coupled device (CCD). More specifically, the invention relates to a solid state image pick-up device which can render more uniform the picture quality at each pixel.
- Solid state image sensors comprising a charge transfer device such as a charge coupled device (hereinafter referred to as CCD) are classified broadly into the frame transfer type and the interline transfer type. Such solid state image sensors comprising a CCD have been given attention as devices able to realize a compact image pick up apparatus, namely, a television camera in miniaturized size operative with low power consumption and with high reliability. However, on the contrary to the above advantage, previously proposed solid state image sensors comprising the CCD have encountered with several problems as for the undesirable phenomena called ''blooming'' and ''smear''.
- Considering the solid state image sensors of the interline transfer type, such as sensing device comprises a sensing and vertical transfer portion including a plurality of photo-sensing areas provided to make horizontal rows and vertical rows, vertical charge transfer portions provided along each of the vertical rows of the photo-sensing areas and transfer gate areas provided between each of the photo-sensing areas the corresponding one of the vertical charge transfer portions, a horizontal charge transfer portion coupled with the vertical charge transfer portion and an output portion coupled with the horizontal charge transfer portion. The sensing and vertical transfer portions, horizontal charge transfer portions and output portions are formed on a common semiconductor substrate. The photo-sensing area is provided for producing a signal charge in response to the light received thereby and storing the signal charge therein. The transfer gate area is provided for transferring the signal charge stored in the photo-sensing area to the vertical charge transfer portion at each period corresponding to a vertical blanking period. The vertical charge transfer portion is provided for transferring the signal charge transferred from the photo-sensing area to the horizontal charge transfer portion in order at every period corresponding to a horizontal blanking period. The horizontal charge transfer portion is provided for transferring the signal charge transferred from the vertical charge transfer portion at each one of the periods corresponding the horizontal blanking periods to the output portion during a period corresponding to a horizontal video period. Further, the output portion is provided for taking out an image pickup signal output in response to the signal charge transferred from the horizontal charge transfer portion.
- In solid state image sensors of the interline transfer type using the CCD (hereinafter referred to as interline transfer CCD image sensors) previously proposed, when the light received by the photo-sensing area reaches to the inside of the semiconductor substrate placed under the photo-sensing area through the latter and a charge is produced thereby at the inside of the semiconductor substrate, such a charge partially flows into the vertical charge transfer portion undesirably without becoming the signal charge and is undesirably transferred by means of the charge transfer operation of the vertical charge transfer portion. This undesirably transferred charge becomes a noise component in the image pick-up signal output derived from the sensor which causes an eyesore, namely a white line on a picture obtained on an image display apparatus such as a picture tube in response to the image pick-up signal output. The effect of phenomenon which causes the white line eyesore on the picture is called "smear" and is one of the unsolved problems encountered with the previously proposed interline transfer CCD image sensors.
- Smear on the reproduced picture may also occur due to excessive carrier undesirably overflowing to other photo-sensing areas, when high intensity light is irradiated on the photo-sensing area to generate higher charge than the handling charge of the photo-sensing areas. In order to prevent smear on the picture, a so-called "overflow drain" is preferably provided in the image pick-up device.
- In recent years, a "channel stop region" has been used as the overflow drain for the excessive carrier generated in the photo-sensing areas in interlane transfer CCD. A CCD structure with the channel stop region has been illustrated on pp 39 of "CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICES: TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION" published by IEEE Press, and written by Walter F. Kosonocky in June, l972. In the disclosure, the diffusion channel stop region is formed surrounding the sensing and vertical transfer section, in which the photo-sensing areas are arranged in a form of matrix to constitute a photosensitive array. When excessive carriers are generated, one of the carrier components, e.g. electrons, are drained to a base layer of the semiconductor substrate, which base layer serves as overflow drain. The other component, e.g. holes, of the carrier is then transferred to the channel stop region to be drained. However, because of the difference of the impedance at respective photo-sensing areas due to the differing distance between the photo-sensing area and the channel stop region, differences of carrier drain characteristics are caused. These differences in carrier drain characteristics with respect to each photo-sensing area result in differences in handling charge at individual photo-sensing areas. Since the brightness of the photo-sensing area is determined depending upon the handling charge thereof, due to the diferences in the handling charge at different positions of the photo-sensing areas, the brightnesses of respective pixels on the reproduced image differ. This degrades the quality of the picture reproduced.
- It is an object of the invention to provide a solid state image pick-up device which has photo-sensitive array having substantially uniform handling charge at respective photo-sensing area.
- In order to accomplish the aforementioned and other objects, a solid state image pick-up device according to the present invention includes means for cancelling differences of impedance between photo-sensing areas in a photo-sensitive array. The impedance difference cancelling means cancels or makes the difference of impedance at every photo-sensing area ignorable to render uniform the handling charge in respective photo-sensing areas.
- In practice, the impedance difference cancelling means may provide a resistance high enough to enable the impedance difference between respective photo-sensing areas to be ignored.
- According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a solid state image pick-up device comprising:
a photo sensing means including a plurality of photo-sensing elements, each of which photo-sensing elements is designed for receiving light and producing a charge signal corresponding to the amount of the light;
charge transferring means for receiving said charge signal from said photo sensing means and transferring said charge signal to an output section; and
means for draining carrier generated in each of said photo-sensing elements of said photo sensing means and transferring means; characterised by
means for providing a resistance for said draining means, which resistance is high enough, in relation to a potential difference occurring in use between said photo-sensing elements, to cancel said potential difference. - The present invention will be understood more fully from the detailed description given herebelow and from the accompanying drawings of the preferred embodiment of the invention, which, however, should not be taken to limit the invention to the specific embodiments, but are for explanation and understanding only.
- In the drawings:
- Fig. l is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of a solid state image pick-up device according to the invention;
- Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the solid state image pick-up device of Fig. l;
- Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of another embodiment of a solid state image pick-up device according to the invention; and
- Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of a modification of the solid state image pick-up device of Fig. 3.
- Referring now to the drawings, particularly to Fig. l, the preferred embodiment of an image pick-up device according to the invention comprises an interline transfer-type charge coupled device (CCD). The image pick-up device generally comprises a semiconductor substrate l0, a sensing and
vertical transfer section 20 and a horizontalcharge transfer section 30. Thesemiconductor substrate 10 is constituted of abase substrate 12, afirst region 14 and a second region 16 (Fig. 2). In the shown embodiment, thebase substrate 12 is formed of N-type semiconductor. More practically, thebase substrate 12 is N-type silicon substrate. Thefirst region 14 is formed by P-type layer which is deposited on the N-type silicon substrate. The second layer is formed by P⁻-type or N⁻-type layer and deposited on thefirst region 14. The first and second regions are deposited on thebase substrate 12 by epitaxial growth. The surface of thesecond region 16 serves as a primary surface 18 of thesemiconductor substrate 10 by selective diffusion or ion implantation. - The sensing and
vertical transfer section 20 includes a plurality of photo-sensing areas 22 andvertical shift registers 24. Each of the photo-sensing area 22 serves as a picture element or pixel for receiving the light to produce and store a signal charge therein. A given number of photo-sensing areas 22 are arranged in spaced apart relationship to each other and aligned along the associatedvertical shift register 24. Thevertical shift register 24 receives signal charge from the associated photo-sensing areas and vertically transfers the signal charge at every period corresponding to the horizontal blanking period. Each of the shift registers 24 and the associated photo-sensing areas 22 constitute avertical transfer portion 26. Thevertical shift registers 24 are associated with ahorizontal shift register 32 in the horizontalcharge transfer section 30 to output the signal charge therethrough to anoutput section 34. - In the shown embodiment, an inner
channel stop region 40 are formed surrounding the aforementioned sensing andvertical transfer section 20. This innerchannel stop region 40 is a low impurity concentration region formed by dopping impurity, such as boron B. In a practical implementation, the innerchannel stop region 40 is formed by dropping boron as impurity in the order of 10¹² atoms/cm³ by diffusion or ion implantation. The innerchannel stop region 40 is connected to an outerchannel stop region 42 at both ends thereof throughbridging section 44. The outerchannel stop region 42 comprises an inner lowimpurity concentration region 46 and an outer highimpurity concentration region 48. The lowimpurity concentration region 46 of the outerchannel stop region 42 has the identical composition to that of the innerchannel stop region 40 and preferable formed simultaneously to formation of the inner channel stop region. On the other hand, the highimpurity concentration region 48 has higher impurity concentration than that in the inner channel stop region. In practice, the highimpurity concentration region 48 is formed by dopping impurity, such as boron B, in the order of 10¹⁴ atoms/cm². The highimpurity concentration region 48 is formed in advance of formation of the innerchannel stop region 40 and the lowimpurity concentration region 46. The highimpurity concentration region 48 is formed with a plurality of contactingpoints 50 through which it contact withA1 wiring 52. These contactingpoints 50 have applied to them a potential at the ground level or a predetermined level, through thewiring 52. Therefore, the contact points 50 serves as a terminal section. - Between the inner
channel stop region 40 at the lowimpurity concentration region 46 of the outerchannel stop region 42, aresistor region 54 is formed. Namely, theresistor region 54 is formed in a space defined by the innerchannel stop region 40, the lowimpurity concentration region 46 and thebridging section 44. In the preferred construction, theresistor region 54 is formed of a meshed structure. By forming theresistor region 54 in the meshed structure, influence of damaging of part of theresistor region 54 can be eliminated or reduced. - As shown in Fig. 2, in the shown embodiment, the
base substrate 12 is formed on N-type semiconductor substrate. Thefirst region 14 is formed into P⁺-type region by dopping P⁺-type impurity and thesecond region 16 is formed into N⁻-type region by dopping N⁻-type impurity. Each photo-sensing area 22 is formed in thesecond region 16 by dopping N⁺-type impurity by selective diffusion or ion implantation, in a predetermined area and through a given depth in conjunction with the primary surface 18 of thesemiconductor substrate 10. The upper surface of each photo-sensing area 22 is covered by a mutually separate,independent surface region 26. Thesurface regions 26 are electrically conductive. Similarly to the photo-sensing area 22, each of thesurface regions 26 are formed by dopping P⁺-type impurity by way of selective diffusion or ion implantation, in a predetermined area and substantially thin given depth. Thesurface regions 26 are exposed to the primary surface 18 of thesemiconductor substrate 10. Forming thesurface region 26 will successfully eliminate noise to be created by influence of defects in the crystal structure at the surface area of thesemiconductor substrate 10. - On the other hand, the
shift register 24 comprises a verticalcharge transfer region 28 formed on the primary surface 18 of thesemiconductor substrate 10. The verticalcharge transfer region 28 is also formed by dopping N⁺-type impurity by way of selective diffusion or ion implantation, similarly to the photo-sensing areas 22. - The primary surface 18 of the
semiconductor substrate 10 is coated by an insulating layer 60. The insulating layer may comprise a SiO₂ layer. Asurface electrode 62 is formed over the insulating layer 60. Thesurface electrode 62 is formed of a transparent material for passing the light. A given fixed potential is applied to the sensing and vertically transfersection 20 through thesurface electrode 62. -
Transfer electrodes 64 are provided, to which a two-phase clock voltage for thevertical shift register 24, is applied. Thetransfer electrodes 64 also serve as transfer gate electrodes for transferring the signal charge of respectively associated photo-sensing sreas 22 to the correspondingcharge transfer region 28. As seen from Fig. 2, each of the transfer electrodes 63 is disposed within the insulating layer 60 and thus electrically insulated fromsurface electrode 62. - In practice, the
surface electrode 62 and thetransfer electrodes 64 are formed of a silicon monocrystalline dopped impurity to provide low specific contact resistance. - The
channel stop regions second region 16. As will be seen from Fig. 2, the innerchannel stop region 40 and the lowimpurity concentration region 44 of the outerchannel stop region 42 are formed by dopping P⁻-type impurity at low rate. The innerchannel stop region 40 adjoins with the adjacent photo-sensing areas 22 and thesurface regions 26. The highimpurity concentration region 46 are formed by dopping P-type impurity at high rate. A P-type region (not shown) is formed through thesecond region 16 to establish electric communication between the highimpurity concentration region 46 and thefirst region 14 of thesemiconductor substrate 10. - In the construction set forth above, a given positive voltage, e.g. 10V is applied to the
base substrate 10 to enable the operation of the image pick-up device. Electrons are thus generated in each photo-sensing area 22. The number of electrons generated in the photo-sensing area 22 will be determined corresponding to the amount of the light received. When the amount of electrons generated in the photo-sensing area 22 exceeds a possible handling charge of the photo-sensing area, and further exceeds the value of an overflow barrier established in thefirst region 14, the excessive carriers, i.e. the overflown electrons are absorbed in thebase substrate 12 which serves as an overflow drain. On the other hand, the other carrier, e.g. the holes, are drained through the innerchannel stop region 40. - As set forth above, since the inner
channel stop region 40 is connected to theterminal section 50 through highresistance registor region 54, to be connected to the ground or power supply, the potential at every sections of the innerchannel stop region 40 becomes substantially uniform. As a result, the distance between each individual photo-sensing area 22 and the innerchannel stop region 40 can not influence to carrier absorbing characteristics of each section of theinner channel region 40. This allows the depth of the potential well in the photo-sensing areas 22 and thus the handling charge in respective photo-sensing area to be rendered uniform. - Fig. 3 shows another embodiment of the image pick-up device according to the invention. A P⁺-
type region 70 is formed between N-type base substrate and N⁻-type sueface layer of the N-type semiconductor substrate 72, in substantially similar manner to that illustrated in Fig. 2. As is well known, the P⁺-type region 70 is formed by exitaxial growth on the N-type base substrate. A sensing and vertically transfersection 74 is formed on the aforementioned N⁻-type surface layer at the position approximately corresponding to the center of the P⁺-type region 70. The structure of the sensing andvertical transfer section 74 is substantially the same as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 and thus does not described in detail in order to avoid redundant recitation. Ahorizontal shift register 76 is also formed within thewell region 70 and located adjacent the aforementioned sensing andvertical transfer section 74. Adjacent one end of thehorizontal shift register 76, anoutput section 78 is formed. Theoutput section 78 is located away from the sensing and vertically transfersection 74. Achannel stop region 75 is formed along the boundary of the sensing andvertical transfer section 74. With the construction set forth above, and as discussed with respect to the former embodiment, one component of the carriers, e.g. electrons are drained to the N-type base substrate via the P⁺-type region 70 and the other carrier component, e.g. holes, are drained to thechannel stop region 75. - A
first grounding wiring 80 is also formed on the N⁻-type surface layer and located in an area corresponding to the P⁺-type region 70. The groundingwiring 80 is arranged on thechannel stop region 75 and connected thereto. Thefirst grounding wiring 80 substantially surrounds the sensing andvertical transfer section 74 with leaving one edge of the sensing andvertical transfer section 74 open, which edge opposes to the horizontal shift register. The groundingwiring 80 is connected to theground level 82 through aresistor 84. - A
second grounding wiring 86 is further formed on the N⁻-type surface layer adjacent thehorizontal shift register 76. As shown in Fig. 3, thesecond grounding wiring 86 extends substantially along the longer edge at the side remote from the sensing andvertical transfer section 74 and along the shorter edge at the side remote from theoutput section 78. Thissecond grounding wiring 86 is directly connected to the ground level. - A
third grounding wiring 88 is formed on the surface layer of the semiconductor substrate adjacent theoutput section 78. The third grounding wiring substantially surrounding theoutput section 78 with leaving an edge portion opposite one edge of the horizontal shift register open. Similarly to the aforementionedsecond grounding wiring 86, the third grounding wiring is directly connected to the ground level. - As will be seen from Fig. 3, in the shown embodiment, the P⁺-
type region 70 is formed on the semiconductor substrate with providingportions portion 90 is located between ends of the first and second grounding wirings 80 and 86 to define ahigh resistance region 96. Also, theportion 92 is located between the first and third grounding wirings 80 and 88 to define therebetween ahigh resistance region 98. With this construction, respective first, second and third grounding wirings 80, 86 and 88 are separated to each other by thehigh resistance regions vertical transfer section 74. - It should be appreciated that, though the shown embodiment provides the
high resistance regions portions resistor 84 can be formed on thesemiconductor substrate 72 or can be interposed between theground level 82 and the groundingwiring 80 as an external accessory. - By providing the high resistance regions and by providing the resistor between the first grounding wiring and the ground level, the potential at the sensing and vertical transfer section is provided at different level to the ground level. This isolates the sensing and vertical transfer section from the directly grounded grounding wirings.
- With this arrangement, the potential becomes different at respective portions in the sensing and
vertical transfer section 74, because of difference of distance to the grounding wiring. However, by providing sufficient impedance which is determined by combined resistance of the high resistance region and the resistor inserted between the first grounding wiring and the ground level, the potential difference at respective portions in the sensing and vertical transfer section can be relatively small to be ignored. Therefore, by adjusting the resistance in the high resistance region and the resistor, the potential in each portion of the sensing and vertically transfer section can be held uniform. Therefore, handling charge in each of the photo-sensing areas in the sensing and vertically transfer section become substantially uniform. - In practice, the required combined resistance for maintaining the potential at every portions of the sensing and vertical transfer section uniform will be different depending upon the size of the sensing and vertical transfer section, capacity Cox of the oxide layer of gate electrode, level of the pulse to be applied to the electrode, and so forth. However, in practice, the combined resistance may be set in a range of 10 to 100 Ω.
- Fig. 4 shows a modification of the aforementioned another embodiment of the image pick-up device of Fig. 3. In this modification, the first and second grounding wirings in the former embodiment are integrally formed to constitute a
single grounding wiring 102. Similarly to the foregoing embodiment, thegrounding wiring 102 is connected to the ground level through aresistor 84. Thisgrounding wire 102 is disconnected from thethird grounding wiring 88 which is directly connected to the ground level by theportions 92 and 94 defining thehigh resistance regions - Even in this modification, the potential at every portion of the sensing and
vertical transfer section 74 can be maintained uniform by adjusting combined resistance of thehigh resistance regions resistor 84. Therefore, handling charge in each photo-sensing areas in the sensing andvertical transfer section 74 become substantially uniform. - Therefore, the present invention fulfills all of the objects and advantages sought therefor.
- While the present invention has been disclosed in terms of the preferred embodiment in order to facilitate better understanding of the invention, it should be appreciated that the invention can be embodied in various ways without departing from the principle of the invention. Therefore, the invention should be understood to include all possible embodiments and modifications to the shown embodiments which can be embodied without departing from the principle of the invention set out in the appended claims.
Claims (15)
a photo sensing means (20) including a plurality of photo-sensing elements (22), each of which photo-sensing elements is designed for receiving light and producing a charge signal corresponding to the amount of the light;
charge transferring means (24, 30) for receiving said charge signal from said photo sensing means (20) and transferring said charge signal to an output section (34);
and means (40, 42, 44) for draining carrier generated in each of said photo-sensing elements (22) of said photo sensing means and transferring means;
characterised by
means for providing a resistance for said draining means, which resistance is high enough in relation to a potential difference occurring, in use, between said photo-sensing elements, to cancel said potential difference.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP94101121A EP0594559B1 (en) | 1986-03-19 | 1987-03-19 | Solid state image pick-up device |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
JP61061785A JPH0763090B2 (en) | 1986-03-19 | 1986-03-19 | Solid-state imaging device |
JP61785/86 | 1986-03-19 |
Related Child Applications (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP94101121.5 Division-Into | 1987-03-19 | ||
EP94101121A Division EP0594559B1 (en) | 1986-03-19 | 1987-03-19 | Solid state image pick-up device |
Publications (3)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0238343A2 true EP0238343A2 (en) | 1987-09-23 |
EP0238343A3 EP0238343A3 (en) | 1988-10-05 |
EP0238343B1 EP0238343B1 (en) | 1995-03-01 |
Family
ID=13181087
Family Applications (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP94101121A Expired - Lifetime EP0594559B1 (en) | 1986-03-19 | 1987-03-19 | Solid state image pick-up device |
EP87302385A Expired - Lifetime EP0238343B1 (en) | 1986-03-19 | 1987-03-19 | Solid state image pick-up device |
Family Applications Before (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP94101121A Expired - Lifetime EP0594559B1 (en) | 1986-03-19 | 1987-03-19 | Solid state image pick-up device |
Country Status (8)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US4780765A (en) |
EP (2) | EP0594559B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JPH0763090B2 (en) |
KR (1) | KR950014688B1 (en) |
CN (1) | CN1010073B (en) |
CA (1) | CA1270555C (en) |
DE (2) | DE3752341T2 (en) |
HK (1) | HK1007852A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4928003A (en) * | 1988-07-15 | 1990-05-22 | Tektronix, Inc. | Charge-coupled device for detecting spatial variation in the intensity of electromagnetic radiation |
US5122850A (en) * | 1989-09-05 | 1992-06-16 | Eastman Kodak Company | Blooming control and reduced image lag in interline transfer CCD area image sensors |
JPH07177427A (en) * | 1993-12-20 | 1995-07-14 | Victor Co Of Japan Ltd | Video camera |
WO1998020561A1 (en) * | 1996-11-01 | 1998-05-14 | Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory | Low-resistivity photon-transparent window attached to photo-sensitive silicon detector |
SG70128A1 (en) * | 1997-10-06 | 2000-01-25 | Canon Kk | Method of driving image sensor |
DE10253122B4 (en) | 2002-11-13 | 2010-05-06 | Carl Freudenberg Kg | Arrangement for detecting the rotational movement of a shaft |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE3119032A1 (en) * | 1980-05-14 | 1982-03-18 | Matsushita Electronics Corp., Kadoma, Osaka | Solid-state image scanning device |
DE3328607A1 (en) * | 1982-08-11 | 1984-02-16 | Sony Corp., Tokyo | SOLID BODY IMAGER |
EP0174133A2 (en) * | 1984-08-27 | 1986-03-12 | Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha | A solid-state image sensor |
US4579626A (en) * | 1985-02-28 | 1986-04-01 | Rca Corporation | Method of making a charge-coupled device imager |
Family Cites Families (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4593303A (en) * | 1981-07-10 | 1986-06-03 | Fairchild Camera & Instrument Corporation | Self-aligned antiblooming structure for charge-coupled devices |
JPS59191378A (en) * | 1983-04-14 | 1984-10-30 | Sony Corp | Manufacture of solid-state image pickup element |
JPS59197168A (en) * | 1983-04-22 | 1984-11-08 | Sony Corp | Solid-state image-pickup element |
JPS6118172A (en) * | 1984-07-04 | 1986-01-27 | Sony Corp | Solid-state image picking device |
US4654683A (en) * | 1985-08-23 | 1987-03-31 | Eastman Kodak Company | Blooming control in CCD image sensors |
-
1986
- 1986-03-19 JP JP61061785A patent/JPH0763090B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1987
- 1987-03-13 US US07/025,634 patent/US4780765A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1987-03-17 KR KR1019870002387A patent/KR950014688B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1987-03-18 CA CA532333A patent/CA1270555C/en not_active Expired
- 1987-03-19 EP EP94101121A patent/EP0594559B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1987-03-19 EP EP87302385A patent/EP0238343B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1987-03-19 DE DE3752341T patent/DE3752341T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1987-03-19 CN CN87102223A patent/CN1010073B/en not_active Expired
- 1987-03-19 DE DE3751097T patent/DE3751097T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1998
- 1998-06-26 HK HK98107003A patent/HK1007852A1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE3119032A1 (en) * | 1980-05-14 | 1982-03-18 | Matsushita Electronics Corp., Kadoma, Osaka | Solid-state image scanning device |
DE3328607A1 (en) * | 1982-08-11 | 1984-02-16 | Sony Corp., Tokyo | SOLID BODY IMAGER |
EP0174133A2 (en) * | 1984-08-27 | 1986-03-12 | Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha | A solid-state image sensor |
US4579626A (en) * | 1985-02-28 | 1986-04-01 | Rca Corporation | Method of making a charge-coupled device imager |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
DE3751097T2 (en) | 1995-06-22 |
KR870009483A (en) | 1987-10-27 |
CA1270555A (en) | 1990-06-19 |
DE3751097D1 (en) | 1995-04-06 |
JPH0763090B2 (en) | 1995-07-05 |
EP0238343A3 (en) | 1988-10-05 |
EP0238343B1 (en) | 1995-03-01 |
US4780765A (en) | 1988-10-25 |
CN1010073B (en) | 1990-10-17 |
HK1007852A1 (en) | 1999-04-23 |
DE3752341T2 (en) | 2002-07-11 |
EP0594559A3 (en) | 1995-10-25 |
EP0594559A2 (en) | 1994-04-27 |
KR950014688B1 (en) | 1995-12-13 |
CA1270555C (en) | 1990-06-19 |
EP0594559B1 (en) | 2001-11-14 |
DE3752341D1 (en) | 2001-12-20 |
CN87102223A (en) | 1987-09-30 |
JPS62219565A (en) | 1987-09-26 |
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